I saw some scans from Secret Origins of how they got him to wear them while he was young. Based on what I saw, they used it to help in case his heat vision went crazy. I assume they went the Smallville route and had it tied to him being horny since he said he "forgot" how it happened.

I guess it all depends on how "small" Smallville is. Is it so small that people haven't seen much of Clark? How tight-knit is the town?

To add to the idea of flashbacks, if they have them, I want them to actually count for something. I thought the SR was random and a waste of time however nice it was.